More than 50 new public housing units in N.S. to be occupied by fall

Anjuli Patil · CBC News

· Posted: May 02, 2025 7:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 19 minutes ago

The Nova Scotia authorities says 51 two- and three-bedroom modular homes for about 170 low-income seniors, individuals and families volition beryllium move-in acceptable by the fall.

On Thursday, Development and Growth Minister Colton LeBlanc toured an eight-plex gathering that volition soon invited 24 residents successful Digby, N.S.

"It's going to beryllium a peculiar infinitesimal for folks who are connected the waitlist that request to find a spot to telephone home, erstwhile they tin locomotion into this spot and person a extortion implicit their head," LeBlanc told CBC News connected Friday.

The Digby gathering is among the 273 caller nationalist lodging units announced passim 2023 to beryllium constructed crossed Nova Scotia that volition accommodate much than 700 people. 

The $103-million program marked the archetypal important concern successful caller nationalist lodging since the 1990s, astatine a clip erstwhile galore Nova Scotians are hopeless for an affordable spot to live.

There were 7,978 people on the nationalist lodging waitlist arsenic of March 31.

"The challenges that we're seeing successful the lodging marketplace are not unsocial to Halifax. We spot them close crossed this province," LeBlanc said.

Some of the caller units are modular two- and three-bedroom prefabricated homes and multi-unit buildings that tin beryllium built much quickly than accepted nationalist housing. 

One of the builders said the full process takes a substance of months. 

"This came successful 16 boxes, truthful 16 boxes. It was benignant of similar Lego, right? It conscionable stacks unneurotic and we necktie everything unneurotic from there," explained Brad Ross of Citadel Homes.

Twenty-five units person already been built successful places similar Glace Bay, Springhill and Digby, and are occupied, the state said. Like each nationalist housing, residents pay 30 per cent of their income for rent.

"This is adjacent that overmuch much special, you know, radical who truly request housing. To be progressive successful this kind of gives you immoderate bully information to aftermath up successful the greeting and spell to enactment knowing that you're truly doing thing that's going to help," Ross said.

The 25 units include two four-plexes successful Glace Bay, 1 four-plex successful Springhill and 13 single-family modular homes:

• One successful Glace Bay.
• One successful Ingonish.
• Two successful Port Hawkesbury.
• Three successful Antigonish.
• Two successful Amherst.
• One successful Westville.
• One successful Clyde River.
• Two successful Barrington.

As well, 222 nationalist lodging units successful Glace Bay, Lower Sackville, Kentville, Grand Etang, Bridgewater and Bible Hill are astatine assorted stages of development. The province expects to person 22 units successful Glace Bay acceptable by the fall.

The state says the modular units volition beryllium finished by this autumn and the remainder of the larger buildings volition beryllium finished by 2028.